The present invention relates to a silicone-based fabric finishing agent, more particularly, to a silicone-based fabric finishing agent suitable for a softening treatment of waddings of synthetic fibers advantageously freed from the drawback of yellowing of the wadding treated therewith by heating or by the lapse of time.
Waddings of synthetic fibers such as polyester fibers, acrylic fibers and the like are required to have good feeling of softness and smoothness so that it is usual that wadding of a synthetic fiber are treated with a fabric finishing agent capable of imparting a desirable feeling of touch to the wadding treated therewith with. Various types of fabric softening agents have hitherto been proposed and used commercially, among which silicone-based ones are most important.
Known types of silicone-based fabric finishing agents suitable for the above mentioned application include a combination of an epoxy-containing organopolysiloxane and an amino-containing organopolysiloxane, a combination of an epoxy-containing organopolysiloxane and an amino-containing organic compound and a combination of an epoxy-containing organic compound and an amino-containing organopolysiloxane disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 48-17514, a combination of a high-polymeric dimethylpolysiloxane and an aminoalkoxy silane disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 51-37996, a combination of an epoxy-containing organopolysiloxane and an aminoalkoxy silane disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication Nos. 53-19715 and 53-19716 and so on. These prior art silicone-based fabric finishing agents are excellent with respect to the soft and pleasant feeling of touch or so-called feather-touch feeling imparted to the wadding treated therewith. However, these fabric finishing agents have a serious defect in common, viz., the wadding treated therewith is more or less subject to a phenomenon of yellowing when the wadding is heated during the treatment procedure or by the lapse of time after the treatment which greatly decreases the commercial value of the fabric material treated therewith so that it is eagerly desired in the fabric industry to develop a fabric finishing agent free from the problem of yellowing of the fabric material.